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Monday, January 21, 2013

Reborn Barack

On pages 360-361 of Black Dolls A Comprehensive Guide to Celebrating, Collecting, and Experiencing the Passion (2008), for Illustration 785 (shown below on left), I wrote:

Reborn doll named Barack by unnamed artist

Barack
is
a biracial doll that uses the Berenguer “Asian Ning” doll head.His new brown cloth body has a silicone
pellet filling and, when held, his weighted head gives the feel of a newborn infant’s
floppy head movement.Eyelashes, glass
eyes; and hand-rooted, dark brown hair give him a realistic appearance.The doll was reborn in February 2005 by a
reborn artist using on-hand reborning supplies, shortly after Barack Obama made
history in 2004 by becoming the third African American since Reconstruction to
be elected to the U.S. Senate. Because
of the doll’s biracial ethnicity, the author named it for the history-making
senator, who at the time of this writing is a 2008 Democratic presidential
hopeful.Coincidentally, the doll,
Barack, bears a likeness to author’s grandson, Caleb, as an infant.With one Caleb doll already in her
collection, the name Barack seemed most appropriate for this baby.

DBG's grandson, Caleb, in 2001

To illustrate the facial similarities between the doll and my grandson, the image on the left of Grandson as an infant is also included on page 361 of Black Dolls.

The book, however, does not divulge the entire story of how I came to acquire reborn Barack. The true story is that I had commissioned a particular reborn artist to reborn two other dolls for me, infant girls. After the dolls arrived, I noticed what appeared to be animal bite marks on one of the doll's ears. Having paid the artist a substantial amount for both dolls, I informed her that I had discovered the damaged ear and wondered why she had not been upfront about it. The second doll had some minor discolorations in the vinyl.

Reborn doll, Barack

The artist apologized profusely and later oddly "pieced together" Barack, combining a chocolate brown cloth body with the doll's lighter vinyl head, hands, and feet and sent him to me as a "peace" offering. This is why I consider him "biracial" and why I named him Barack.

I got sidelined by the fact that you were sent a doll that an animal chewed on. I would have been beyond ticked. It's like when people say something is from a smoke free home and it's not! Even if they never saw the animal bite it, they still should have quality checked it before mailing. *grumpy*

Muff, I was pretty PO'd with her because I know she knew the doll's ear was damaged. The fact that she thought I would not notice and would not confront her about it is what bothered me. But as GG said, something bad turned into something good.

Caleb is beyond adorable! Such distinct facial characteristics. I'm glad the seller tried to make amends with Baby Barack. I'm sure you're glad to have him as part of your collection, today. She should have done the right thing in the beginning, which was redo your other dolls or refund your money.

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